United probe had 'zero' to do with my resignation, N.J. commissioner says

Updated October 7, 2015 at 8:11 AM;Posted October 6, 2015 at 2:00 PM

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Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox (l), seen in this file photo with Gov. Chris Christie, said a probe involving his former lobbying client, United Airlines and its dealings with the Port Authority had "zero" to do with his announcement last week that he would step down after only a year. (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

RUTHERFORD -- Outgoing state Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox said an investigation into talks between his old lobbying client United Airlines and the former Port Authority chairman had "zero" to do with his announcement last week that he was stepping down after only a year.

Talking to reporters after a Meadowlands development forum in Rutherford, Fox added the investigation was not a major distraction from his job.

"Only insofar as I've had to deal with (reporters' questions)" Fox said.

Before taking the commissioner's job last year, Fox was a lobbyist whose clients included United and who, Bloomberg News reported, attended a 2011 dinner with Samson, United CEO Jeffrey Smisek and others when topics of discussion included the South Carolina flight and a proposed $1.5 billion PATH extension to Newark airport, a Port Authority project likely to benefit the airline.

Fox, a Democrat and veteran political insider in Trenton and Washington, was appointed a year ago by Gov. Chris Christie, charged with with brokering a deal to replenish the depleted state Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for repairs to the state's aging roads, bridges and transit systems. A broad spectrum of Democrats, Republicans, mass transit and motorist advocates, planners and business people support raising the state's historically low and politically-sensitive gasoline tax.

"Like it or not, it's the only way," said one of the forum's speakers, J. Fletcher Creamer, owner of one of the state's biggest construction companies, and who stands to gain from more infrastructure work financed by the trust fund.

Although Christie appointed Fox to work out a transportation funding plan, the Republican governor has resisted calls, mainly by Democrats, to raise the gas tax since he was sworn in in 2010.

And in August, Christie joined some fellow Republican presidential hopefuls in signing a pledge promoted by GOP power broker Grover Norquist not to raise taxes.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) said Tuesday that Fox told her in advance of his resignation announcement that he had decided to quit after Christie signed the no-tax pledge.

"He didn't think that, after the governor's 'no new taxes,' and the intensification of the presidential election, he would be able to do anything meaningful," Weinberg said.

Speaking to reporters after the forum, Fox reiterated his Friday statement that he was stepping down after having given himself a year to get a trust fund deal done. Without success, he added, he might not be the right person for the job.

"I knew that it was going to be a finite period of time when I took the job," said Fox, who avoided using the word "tax." "I did my best to get the Transportation Trust Fund funded."

But Fox said his efforts as commissioner had not been entirely fruitless. During a panel discussion, he said he believed the state was closer to a funding deal than it had been when he took the commissioner job, in part due to a heightened awareness of the issue. A poll in April found that 50 percent of respondents supported hiking the gas tax, versus 47 percent opposed.

"It's been discussed a lot, it's been written about a lot," Fox said. "The more we talk about the unsexy subject of fixing roads and fixing bridges and fixing mass transit, the more palatable it's going to be."

"Part of my job is to educate what the alternative is," said Fox, joining panelists in stressing that an ailing infrastructure will continue to hinder economic growth and the overall quality of life. "If we do not fix this we will become a second rate society."